#Allied Community Resources ACR

[ctbraininjurysupportservice-blog]

Understanding ILST Providers: What to Expect and How They Make a Difference

Explore the role of ILST providers in helping individuals with brain injuries regain independence, and learn why families trust ABI Resources

ABI Resources is a reputable organization that provides exceptional support to individuals and families in collaboration with various government agencies and community service providers, including the Connecticut Department of Social Services DSS, COU Community Options, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services DMHAS, Connecticut Community Care CCC CCCI Southwestern Connecticut Area on Aging SWCAA, Western Connecticut Area on Aging WCAAA, Allied Community Resources ACR, Access Health, and United Services. ABI Resources collaborates care with renowned institutions such as UCONN, Yale, and Hartford. As a community care and supported living provider, ABI Resources is dedicated to offering high-quality and personalized care to enhance the lives of those it serves. Medicaid MFP Money Follows the person program / ABI Waiver Program / PCA waiver.

Independent Living Skills Training, ILST, provider, traumatic brain injury, TBI, acquired brain injury, ABI, recovery, integration, daily life, ABI Resources, cognitive, emotional, social skills, self-care, communication, problem-solving, household management, independence, self-sufficiency, community settings, real-world application, flexible schedule, person-centered approach, strengths, challenges, evidence-based practices, therapeutic techniques, customized training plans, compassionate, knowledgeable, experienced, effective communication, collaboration, high-quality services, skilled professionals, empowering clients, goal achievement, quality of life, emotional resilience, successful reintegration, personalized training, customized approach.

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[dekhocampus11]

Parul University: NO.#1 College in Vadodara

Parul University, located in Vadodara, Gujarat, India, is a distinguished multi-disciplinary university offering a wide range of programs across various fields such as engineering, management, pharmacy, applied sciences, arts, commerce, law, and health sciences. Established in 2015 under the Gujarat Private Universities Act, Parul University has quickly gained recognition for its commitment to academic excellence, innovation, and holistic development.

Overview

Founding and Vision:

Established by Parul Arogya Seva Mandal Trust.

Vision to provide quality education, foster research and innovation, and develop socially responsible professionals.

Academic Programs

Engineering and Technology:

Undergraduate Programs (B.Tech): Specializations include Computer Science, Mechanical, Civil, Electrical, Electronics & Communication, Information Technology, and more.

Postgraduate Programs (M.Tech): Advanced studies in various engineering fields.

Diploma Programs: Various specializations in engineering for diploma holders.

Management Studies:

Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA): Focuses on developing managerial and business skills.

Master of Business Administration (MBA): Specializations include Finance, Marketing, Human Resource Management, International Business, and more.

Ph.D. Programs: Research opportunities in various management fields.

Health Sciences:

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS): Comprehensive medical education and training.

Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS): Dental education and clinical practice.

Nursing, Physiotherapy, and Allied Health Sciences: Various programs focusing on different aspects of healthcare.

Pharmacy:

Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm): Fundamental and advanced pharmaceutical studies.

Master of Pharmacy (M.Pharm): Specializations in Pharmacology, Pharmaceutics, and more.

Applied Sciences:

Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.): Various specializations including Biotechnology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, and more.

Master of Science (M.Sc.): Advanced studies in selected disciplines.

Arts, Commerce, and Law:

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com): Various specializations in humanities and commerce.

Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Integrated LLB: Legal studies with various specializations.

Master of Laws (LLM): Advanced legal education and research.

Facilities and Infrastructure

Campus:

Spread over a sprawling 150-acre campus with modern architecture and lush greenery.

State-of-the-art infrastructure including smart classrooms, advanced laboratories, and seminar halls.

Library:

Well-stocked library with a vast collection of books, journals, periodicals, and digital resources.

Provides access to national and international research databases and e-resources.

Hostel:

Separate hostels for boys and girls with all necessary amenities.

Provides a safe, comfortable, and conducive living environment for students from across the globe.

Healthcare:

On-campus multi-specialty hospital offering medical services to students and faculty.

Regular health check-ups and medical camps.

Sports and Extracurricular Activities:

Extensive sports facilities including grounds for cricket, football, basketball, tennis, and volleyball.

Encourages participation in cultural events, technical fests, and various student clubs and societies.

Placement and Industry Collaboration

Placement Cell:

Active placement cell dedicated to assisting students with internships and job placements.

Organizes regular campus recruitment drives, job fairs, and career counseling sessions.

Industry Linkages:

Collaborates with industry leaders to ensure the curriculum is aligned with industry needs.

Regular guest lectures, workshops, and industrial visits to provide practical exposure.

Achievements and Recognition

Accredited by the National Board of Accreditation (NBA) and approved by AICTE, UGC, PCI, MCI, and other regulatory bodies.

Recognized for its commitment to academic excellence and innovative teaching methodologies.

Admission Process

Undergraduate Programs:

Admissions based on merit and entrance exams like JEE Main for engineering, NEET for medical programs, and other relevant entrance tests.

Includes criteria such as academic performance in qualifying exams.

Postgraduate Programs:

Admissions based on entrance exams like GATE for M.Tech, CAT/MAT for MBA, and relevant criteria for other programs.

Includes personal interviews and group discussions for certain programs.

Alumni Network

Strong and active alumni network that plays a significant role in mentoring current students.

Alumni are placed in prestigious organizations and contribute to the institute's reputation.

Social Responsibility

Engages in various community service and outreach programs.

Promotes environmental sustainability, social awareness, and ethical responsibility among students.

Conclusion

Parul University stands out as a leading institution dedicated to providing high-quality education across various disciplines. With a focus on academic excellence, practical training, and holistic development, Parul University is committed to shaping the future of its students and contributing to the broader community. The university's state-of-the-art infrastructure, experienced faculty, and robust industry linkages make it a preferred choice for students aspiring for academic and professional success.

[96thdayofrage]

Unlike Black Americans across the country after slavery, Williams’ ancestors and thousands of other Black members of slave-owning Native American nations freed after the war “had land,” says Williams, a Tulsa community activist. “They had opportunity to build a house on that land, farm that land, and they were wealthy with their crops.”

“And that was huge — a great opportunity and you’re thinking this is going to last for generations to come. I can leave my children this land, and they can leave their children this land,” recounts Williams, whose ancestor went from enslaved laborer to judge of the Muscogee Creek tribal Supreme Court after slavery.

In fact, Alaina E. Roberts, an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, writes in her book “I’ve Been Here All the While: Black Freedom on Native Land,” the freed slaves of five Native American nations “became the only people of African descent in the world to receive what might be viewed as reparations for their enslavement on a large scale.”

Why that happened in the territory that became Oklahoma, and not the rest of the slaveholding South: The U.S. government enforced stricter terms for reconstruction on the slave-owning American Indian nations that had fully or partially allied with the Confederacy than it had on Southern states.

While U.S. officials quickly broke Gen. William T. Sherman’s famous Special Field Order No. 15 providing 40 acres for each formerly enslaved family after the Civil War, U.S. treaties compelled five slave-owning tribes — the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, Muscogee Creek and Seminoles — to share tribal land and other resources and rights with freed Black people who had been enslaved.

By 1860, about 14% of the total population of that tribal territory of the future state of Oklahoma were Black people enslaved by tribal members. After the Civil War, the Black tribal Freedmen held millions of acres in common with other tribal members and later in large individual allotments.

The difference that made is “incalculable,” Roberts said in an interview. “Allotments really gave them an upward mobility that other Black people did not have in most of the United States.”

The financial stability allowed Black Native American Freedmen to start businesses, farms and ranches, and helped give rise to Black Wall Street and thriving Black communities in the future state of Oklahoma. The prosperity of those communities — many long since vanished —“attracted Black African Americans from the South, built them up as a Black mecca,” Roberts says. Black Wall Street alone had roughly 200 businesses.

Meeting the Black tribal Freedmen in the thriving Black city of Boley in 1905, Booker T. Washington wrote admiringly of a community “which shall demonstrate the right of the negro, not merely as an individual, but as a race, to have a worthy and permanent place in the civilization that the American people are creating.”

And while some tribes reputedly gave their Black members some of the worst, rockiest, unfarmable land, that was often just where drillers struck oil starting in the first years of the 20th century, before statehood changed Indian Territory to Oklahoma in 1907. For a time it made the area around Tulsa the world’s biggest oil producer.

For Eli Grayson, another descendant of Muscogee Creek Black Freedmen, any history that tries to tell the story of Black Wall Street without telling the story of the Black Indian Freedmen and their land is a flop.

“They’re missing the point of what caused the wealth, the foundation of the wealth,” Grayson says.

The oil wealth, besides helping put the bustle and boom in Tulsa’s Black-owned Greenwood business district, gave rise to fortunes for a few Freedpeople that made headlines around the United States. That included 11-year-old Sarah Rector, a Muscogee Creek girl hailed as “the richest colored girl in the world” by newspapers of the time. Her oil fortune drew attention from Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois, who intervened to check that Rector’s white guardian wasn’t pillaging her money.

The wealth from the tribal allotment also gave rise to Williams’ family story of great-aunt Janie, “who learned to drive by going behind the trolley lines” in Tulsa, with her parents in the car, Williams’ uncle, 67-year-old Samuel Morgan, recounted, laughing.

“It was real fashionable, because it was one of the cars that had four windows that rolled all the way up,” Morgan said.

Little of that Black wealth remains today.

In May 1921, 100 years ago this month, Aunt Janie, then a teenager, had to flee Greenwood’s Dreamland movie theater as the white mob burned Black Wall Street to the ground, killing scores or hundreds — no one knows — and leaving Greenwood an empty ruin populated by charred corpses.

Black Freedmen and many other American Indian citizens rapidly lost land and money to unscrupulous or careless white guardians that were imposed upon them, to property taxes, white scams, accidents, racist policies and laws, business mistakes or bad luck. For Aunt Janie, all the family knows today is a vague tale of the oil wells on her land catching fire.

Williams, Grayson and other Black Indian Freedmen descendants today drive past the spots in Tulsa that family history says used to belong to them: 51st Street. The grounds of Oral Roberts University. Mingo Park.

That’s yet another lesson Tulsa’s Greenwood has for the rest of the United States, says William A. Darity Jr., a leading scholar and writer on reparations at Duke University.

If freed Black people had gotten reparations after the Civil War, Darity said, assaults like the Tulsa Race Massacre show they would have needed years of U.S. troop deployments to protect them — given the angry resentment of white people at seeing money in Black hands.

[moldisgoodforyou]

lost time (chapter two)

pairing: rafe cameron x oc

warnings: drinking, cursing, mentions of sex

wordcount: 1.6k

MASTERLIST

_______

By some strange coincidence, Rafe and Sophie were in the same section of their debate class. (Some might call it fate. Sophie would call it a curse.)

It was one of the less popular general education options in the communications section that all Ohio State students had to pick from, but they were both drawn to the idea of the challenge while enrolling. The class was fairly small for a gen ed, only about 40 students. When Rafe walked in on the first day, two minutes to start, he spotted Sophie immediately. She was poised with her notebook laid out, colored pens and all, and Rafe couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He deliberately sat opposite the room from Sophie, hoping and praying they would never be paired together. It was fun to argue about useless things at parties, but less fun in an educational setting. About a month into the semester, the thing he wanted least, happened. 

“Rafe Cameron...and…” Their professor trailed off, scanning around the room to find him a partner for the timed debate. Sophie kept her eyes trained on the doodles in the margin of her notebook, only halfway paying attention as she added another. She had been chosen once at the beginning of the semester and briefly entertained the short debate, something trivial about reality TV, but was left disappointed by her partner’s lackluster effort. “Sophie Flint!” 

At the mention of her name, her head snapped up, caught off guard. “Hm?” 

“You’ll be debating Mr. Cameron, here. Come up to the podiums please.” Their professor instructed. 

She sighed under her breath and rose from her seat as Rafe did the same, both of them standing at the podiums at the front of the classroom. Sophie laced her fingers behind her back, lifting her chin slightly to acknowledge Rafe. He just smirked. Asshole. 

“Alright, you two know the rules, keep it civil. Five minutes.” Their professor glanced down at her list of topics. “You’ll be debating...ah. Should golf be a sport or not? I’ll let you pick your sides -” 

They spoke at the same time. 

“Of course it should.” 

“God, no.” 

She held back an amused smile. “Alright. Carry on.” 

Sophie nodded curtly, then turned slightly toward Rafe, stating her position. “Golf courses are an absolute waste of real estate.” 

“Hold up - Professor Welch, are we talking about the sport or the course?” Rafe interrupted the debate, annoyed as he tugged at his cap. 

Their professor just shrugged. 

“Well you can’t have the sport without a course. Unless you want to play completely in the rough, which, with your skill level, you probably -” 

“Ms. Flint.” Professor Welch warned. 

Sophie barely held back a smirk. “Right. Anyways, courses are about 100, 200 acres on average? And say there’s at least 32,000 courses in the world. So by that standard…” she paused for a moment, doing the mental math. “You have roughly four and a half million acres of land occupied by golf courses.” 

Rafe raised his eyebrows, curling his fingers around the edge of the podium as he leaned slightly toward her. “I don’t see an issue with that. Golf is a valuable, fairly low-impact sport that provides an outlet for many. It’s accessible even past retirement, so it’s a sport that grows with you.” 

“Except the sport is classist. It’s expensive and typically located near neighborhoods that at least have a middle-class income. It’s only accessible past retirement if you have the option to retire, or if you retire with enough spare change to keep up the hobby.” She explained, almost seeming bored. “Not to mention, golf courses are destroying the environment.” 

“No they’re not.” He shot back. 

She raised her eyebrows at the meager comeback. “They are. What’s the one thing you need the most to keep the fairways groomed?” 

Rafe thought for a moment. “Water. But you can just use rainwater -” 

“Great, except most courses don’t.” She interrupted, rolling on. “It’s a huge waste of resources just to water the grass, instead of using that land for farming or preserving the biodiversity of the area.” 

“Thirty seconds.” Their professor chimed in, keeping an eye on her watch. 

Rafe hurried to make his point, knowing he was losing the debate by miles, but Sophie cut him off before he could even speak. “Not to mention, circling back to the sport being elitist, most courses require a country club membership to even play a round -” 

“You belong to a country club, Flint, that’s hardly a leg you can stand on.” Rafe interjected just as their professor called time, a broad smirk tugging at his lips as he sensed Sophie’s frustration at not getting the last word. 

“Enlightening.” Professor Welch turned back to the class. “Show of hands, who won?” The majority of the class voted for Sophie, only a few frat boys raising their hands in support for Rafe. The bell rang and their professor nodded as the class started to pack up and shuffle out. “Right then, don’t forget to read chapters three and four this weekend!” 

Sophie just rolled her eyes at Rafe’s smirk and grabbed her backpack, starting off down the hallway with a satisfied smirk of her own. Sure, he might have gotten the last dig, but she clearly had a stronger argument. 

“Sophie!” She didn’t need to glance over her shoulder to know it was Rafe calling out after her. “Flint!” She ignored him again as he jogged to catch up until she felt his large hand grip her arm. “Hey, I’m talking to you.” 

She yanked her arm out of his grip but turned around anyways. “Get your hands off - oh.” She mumbled the last word as she saw her phone clutched in his hand. 

“Chill out, you just left this behind.” Rafe offered it to her and she took it, giving him a short smile. 

“Right. Thanks.” 

“Hey, um. You did good, I didn’t know all that stuff.” He tried, offering her a rare compliment. 

“It’s well.” She corrected before she could stop herself. 

“Huh?” 

“Well. I did well, not good.” The second it left her mouth, she regretted it.

Rafe scowled slightly at the correction. “Whatever. See you next class.” He headed off, shaking his head. She stood there for a moment, watching him go and silently cursed herself in her head. Would it be that difficult to accept the compliment?

_________

“You need to get over yourself and just go say hi.” Sophie’s friend and roommate, Julia, interrupted her train of thought as Sophie was completely zoned out later that night, staring across the bar at Rafe. He wasn’t even doing anything remotely interesting, just talking with his friends and drinking the Wednesday special dollar beers, but there was something about the backwards cap - that damn backwards cap - that did it for her. 

Sophie shook her head absently, taking a moment until she redirected her gaze. “Huh?” 

Her other roommate, Allie, shook her head with a smile at Sophie’s delayed reaction. 

“Oh my god.” Julia snapped in front of her face to get her attention. “Look, if you’re not going to make a move, can I?” 

“Can you - what? With Rafe? Rafe Cameron? Like, my Rafe?” Sophie stuttered, slightly in shock. “Why?” 

“Have you seen him? He’s cute. And he’s always been nice at parties. I need a date for the Theta party this weekend, please?” Julia asked, shooting a glance over at Rafe. He caught her eye but his gaze shifted over to Sophie for a moment as he sent her a nod of acknowledgment and a raise of his glass.

“I - um, fine, yeah, whatever.” Sophie knocked back the rest of her drink as a final statement, not wanting the conversation to last any longer as she flushed just slightly under Rafe’s stare. “I’m getting more, do you guys want something?” 

After a chorus of no’s from her friends, she pushed her way up to the bar alone. A few moments later, Rafe sidled up next to her, ordering a drink and leaning against the bar to face her. Sophie tried  her best to ignore him, keeping her gaze trained on the glowing neon signs behind the bar. 

“Not gonna say hi?” Rafe asked. 

It took everything in her for Sophie not to roll her eyes as she turned slightly toward him. “Hi, Cameron. Are you free this Friday?” 

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Are you asking me out?” 

That was enough to warrant an eyeroll. “No.” (She bit back the ‘no, stupid’ that threatened to roll off her tongue.) “My friend Julia doesn’t have a date for the Theta party. Are you down?” 

“Oh, shit, yeah.” He turned as their drinks arrived, sliding enough cash across to cover both of them. “The taller one, right?” 

Sophie tried to grab his cash back and cover her half before the bartender could take it, but she noticed too late. “Yes, the tall one. Here.” She shoved the $5 bill into Rafe’s hand. He just pushed it back into hers, taking her hand and closing it into a fist around the bill. “Rafe, I don’t want your money,” she tried again. 

He grinned. “So you can cover me next time we go out, then. What’s Julia’s number?” 

“Right.” She sighed and gestured for his phone. He handed it over easily. “Um, I don’t know it off the top of my head and they have my purse, but. Here’s mine and I’ll pass it on.” She typed her number into his phone quickly, saving her contact then handing it back.  

Rafe nodded with an easy grin, hand lingering for a moment as he took back the phone. “Even better. See ya Friday, Soph.” He gently bumped his elbow against hers, hands full, before heading back to his crew. It wasn’t lost on Sophie that she was left standing there, again, without the last word.

taglist: @oopsiedoopsie23​ @butgilinsky​ @taiter-tots​ 

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this press release from the Center for Biological Diversity:

In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, the Biden administration has announced it will reexamine a Trump administration plan to drastically expand western Arctic oil and gas leasing.

The Bureau of Land Management filed a legal memorandum late Tuesday announcing it is reevaluating plans to offer up nearly 18.6 million acres of the western Arctic, known as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Its initial review indicates the plan is inconsistent with President Biden’s Executive Order 13990 — Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the Climate Crisis.

“We hope this is the first step toward ending Arctic oil leasing,” said Kristen Monsell, a Center attorney. “It’s a no brainer that new Arctic oil leasing is completely inconsistent with addressing the climate emergency. Any reasonable review will show that the Biden administration must revoke this disastrous plan and start phasing out existing fossil fuel extraction. Anything less than that simply won’t cut it.”

The announcement states that other alternatives to the plan may be more appropriate, although it does not specify what those alternatives are. The bureau says it has not yet decided whether to withdraw or replace the plan.

The Trump administration issued the plan, called the Integrated Activity Plan, in 2020. It replaced an earlier plan issued by the Obama administration that allowed oil leasing on 11.7 million acres, or roughly half, of the reserve.

The reserve is the largest tract of undisturbed public land in the United States, and its 23 million acres are recognized as a globally important ecological resource, home to bears, musk oxen, caribou and millions of migratory birds. The reserve provides calving and migration areas for several caribou herds, which provide vital subsistence resources for more than 40 communities in northern and western Alaska. The area also includes designated critical habitat for polar bears alo

[thinkveganworld]

Where Did America Go Wrong? by Carla Binion (”thinkveganworld.tumblr.com”)

Journalist Bill] Moyers noted that in 1953, the CIA worked to overthrow Prime Minister Mossadegh of Iran, who was popular with the people and held power legitimately. Mossadegh’s “mistake” was deciding the Iranian state, and not British companies, should control the oil inside Iran’s borders. The CIA hired mobs and bribed police and soldiers to drive Mossadegh from office. The agency helped reinstate the monarchy and placed Shah Reza Pahlevi, who then gave U. S. companies more than 40 percent ownership of Iran’s oil fields, on the “Peacock Throne.”

Kermit Roosevelt, the CIA agent who came up with the idea for the coup was later named vice president of Gulf Oil. The CIA also created SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police. Kennett Love, a former New York Times reporter, told Moyers that SAVAK tortured and jailed thousands of people and deprived them of property without due process.

In 1954, the CIA overthrew Guatemala’s popular democratically elected Jacobo Arbenz, an admirer of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Fewer than 3 percent of landowners owned 70 percent of the land in Guatemala, so Arbenz nationalized over a million and a half acres and turned it over to the peasants. Because a U. S. firm, United Fruit Company, had owned much of that land the CIA sent mercenaries in from Honduras to try to overthrow Arbenz.

The CIA then bombed the capital using U. S. planes and pilots, forced Arbenz to flee, and replaced him with a U. S. puppet dictator who took the land back from the peasants and returned it to United Fruit Company. Such large numbers of Guatemalan peasants were tortured and slaughtered that coroners said they couldn’t keep up with the workload.

Again and again, the CIA has removed democratically elected leaders around the world and installed right wing dictators, always for the motive of controlling oil or land on behalf of a handful of wealthy corporations, and never on behalf of the majority of people. From its earliest days through Iran-Contra, the Gulf War and beyond, the CIA has protected the money and power of the ruling class by brutalizing ordinary citizens.

During the Cold War, the CIA justified its activities by claiming it was fighting communism. But it usually exaggerated or lied about the threat, often falsely painting legitimately elected socialist leaders as “dangerous communists.”

Colonel Phillip Roettinger (Ret.) U. S. Marine Corps told Bill Moyers the CIA recruited him to help overthrow Arbenz on the pretense of preventing the spread of communist influence in the region. Roettinger says that in reality there was “no hint of communism in [Arbenz’s] government; no communists in his cabinet.”

Moyers pointed out that as part of the Cold War mentality, the U. S. recruited Nazis such as Klaus Barbie, and paid them as secret informants and advisers. Our secret government can’t abide leftist Third World leaders, especially when those leaders give a share of power or national resources to the people, but it doesn’t seem to mind political figures on the far right, not even Nazis. Klaus Barbie had tortured and murdered thousands of Jews, yet the U. S. allied with him and later helped him escape to Bolivia instead of turning him over to the French to be prosecuted for war crimes.

For more information on this, see Christopher Simpson’s “Blowback: The First Full Account of America’s Recruitment of Nazis, And Its Disastrous Effect on Our Domestic and Foreign Policy.” Simpson examines the CIA’s and U. S. State Department’s widespread recruitment of Nazis and Nazi collaborators after World War II. His account is precisely documented and has been described by journalist Seymour Hersh as “the ultimate book about the worst kind of Cold War thinking.”

…When individual citizens say “we” should stand behind our leaders and suggest that “we” as a nation can do no wrong in our foreign policy, are we aligning ourselves with the same “we” that has butchered millions of innocent peasants around the world in order to control Middle East oil reserves?  "We" are not the [covert agencies and their] foreign policy errors. We’re the people, and our interests often clash with those of the CIA and the corporations they represent, especially at times when they propagandize us into serving as cannon fodder for their wars.

…The [extralegal covert] agencies of the secret government, particularly the CIA, often corrode what most of us like best about this country. For example, they disrespect diversity when they make war on Third World citizens. How can the CIA claim to honor diverse cultures at home when it oppresses them abroad? They endanger our natural environment when they invade, pollute and plunder wilderness areas on behalf of the energy companies. They crush human dignity when they manipulate the destinies of the vast majority of citizens in ways that sustain the rich and powerful few, most of whom are not even elected by us.

…Where did America go wrong? It started to go very wrong in 1947, just after World War II, with the creation of the National Security Act… If anyone accuses [those of us who challenge the CIA and other covert agencies] of being un-American for failing to trust and rally around [those agencies] …we might remind them the CIA has a history of deceiving Congress and the American people. We might even suggest that the CIA’s  America has undermined the America we love.

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

Beating The Heat Is Out Of Reach (IPCC, AP News) The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a shocker of a report Monday summarizing the latest authoritative scientific information about global warming. 234 scientists contributed to the 3,000-plus-page report. Global temperatures have already risen by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the 19th century, the highest in over 100,000 years. Further warming is already “locked in,” meaning even if emissions are drastically cut, some changes will be “irreversible” for centuries. Ice melt and sea-level rise are already accelerating, and wild weather events like heatwaves and storms are expected to worsen and become more frequent. Earth is warming so fast that by the 2030s, temperatures will probably exceed the Paris climate accord’s ideal goal of no more than 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit and 1.5 degrees Celsius by the year 2100. The report called it a “code red for humanity.”

Infrastructure bill approved in Senate (AP) With a robust vote after weeks of fits and starts, the Senate approved a $1 trillion infrastructure plan for states coast to coast on Tuesday, as a rare coalition of Democrats and Republicans joined together to overcome skeptics and deliver a cornerstone of President Joe Biden’s agenda. “Today, we proved that democracy can still work,” Biden declared at the White House, noting that the 69-30 vote included even Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. The overwhelming tally provided fresh momentum for the first phase of Biden’s “Build Back Better” priorities, now heading to the House. A sizable number of lawmakers showed they were willing to set aside partisan pressures, at least for a moment, eager to send billions to their states for rebuilding roads, broadband internet, water pipes and the public works systems that underpin much of American life. The measure proposes nearly $550 billion in new spending over five years in addition to current federal authorizations for public works that will reach virtually every corner of the country. There’s money to rebuild roads and bridges, and also to shore up coastlines against climate change, protect public utility systems from cyberattacks and modernize the electric grid. Public transit gets a boost, as do airports and freight rail. Most lead drinking water pipes in America could be replaced.

COVID vaccines to be required for military under new US plan (AP) Members of the U.S. military will be required to get the COVID-19 vaccine beginning next month under a plan laid out by the Pentagon Monday and endorsed by President Joe Biden. In memos distributed to all troops, top Pentagon leaders said the vaccine is a necessary step to maintain military readiness. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the mid-September deadline could be accelerated if the vaccine receives final FDA approval or infection rates continue to rise. “I will seek the president’s approval to make the vaccines mandatory no later than mid-September, or immediately upon” licensure by the Food and Drug Administration “whichever comes first,” Austin said in his memo, warning them to prepare for the requirement.

For first time, average pay for supermarket and restaurant workers tops $15 an hour (Washington Post) The U.S. labor market hit a new milestone recently: For the first time, average pay in restaurants and supermarkets climbed above $15 an hour. Wages have been rising rapidly as the economy reopens and businesses struggle to hire enough workers. Some of the biggest gains have gone to workers in some of the lowest-paying industries. Overall, nearly 80 percent of U.S. workers now earn at least $15 an hour, up from 60 percent in 2014. Job sites and recruiting firms say many job seekers won’t even consider jobs that pay less than $15 anymore. For years, low-paid workers fought to make at least that much. Now it has effectively become the new baseline. Economists caution that a higher average wage is not the same as a $15 minimum wage. Half of workers in these industries are still making below $15 an hour. Nonetheless, rising pay is still a game-changer for millions of workers.

Dry California tourist town to guests: ‘Please conserve’ (AP) Tourists flock by the thousands to the coastal town of Mendocino for its Victorian homes and cliff trails, but visitors this summer are also finding public portable toilets and signs on picket fences pleading: “Severe Drought. Please conserve water.” Hotels have closed their lobby bathrooms and residents have stopped watering their gardens in the foggy outpost about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of San Francisco after two years of little rain sapped many of the wells Mendocino depends on for potable water. Mendocino’s water woes were compounded in recent weeks when the city of Fort Bragg a few miles to the north—its main backup water supplier—informed officials that it, too, had a significant drop in its drinking water reserves after the Noyo River recorded its lowest flows in decades. “This is a real emergency,” said Ryan Rhoades, superintendent of the Mendocino City Community Services District, which helps manage the water in the town’s aquifer.

Nicaragua recalls four LatAm ambassadors in tit-for-tat move (Reuters) Nicaragua has recalled its ambassadors to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica for “consultations,” the government said on Monday, deepening the Central American country’s international isolation over its crackdowns on the opposition. Mexico, Argentina and Colombia recently recalled their ambassadors to protest against moves to clamp down on the opposition in Nicaragua, while Costa Rica a few weeks ago suspended the appointment of its ambassador to the country. On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Ortega of taking new “undemocratic, authoritarian actions.” Blinken also singled out Ortega’s wife, Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo, and said the two were seeking to hold on to power “at all costs” with a strategy of disqualifying potential opposition candidates. Nicaragua is due to hold presidential elections in November in which Ortega is seeking a fourth consecutive term.

Twelve Days In Office, and Crisis Swamps Peru’s Leftist President (Bloomberg) Peru’s new president is off to a rocky start, selecting contentious ministers, alienating allies and setting the stage for a brutal face-off with congress, all within days of taking office. A rural teacher and union activist, Pedro Castillo won the election after reassurances that he’s his own man, not beholden to his party’s Marxist ideology or chief. But when he named his cabinet—including a prime minister who’s under investigation for being an alleged apologist for terrorists—analysts, opposition figures and even some who’d backed him expressed alarm, so much so that the word “impeachment” was heard more than once. “His political capital went up in smoke in 24 hours,” said Rodolfo Rojas, a partner of the Lima-based Sequoia political advisory group. “If he doesn’t change course, there’s no future for him.” Impeachment isn’t imminent, Rojas said, but a clash with congress looks likely. And while Peru has made a habit of ousting presidents, it’s rare for such a discussion to take place within days of inauguration.

French wine production set for a 30-percent drop (Washington Post) A confluence of weather woes is hurting France’s wine harvest. First, there was severe frost in the spring, which laid the foundation for disaster by damaging 30 percent of the production. Then, torrential summer rains hit western Europe in July, leaving parts of Germany and Belgium ravaged by floods, and leading to fungal attacks on grapes and their leaves in France. All of this has set France up for a wine supply drop of 24 to 30 percent this year—the lowest output since 1970, France’s farm ministry said Friday. For champagne, harvest potential has been slashed in half, some producers warned. In Italy, the world’s largest wine producer, high temperatures in the south caused an early harvest, while heavy rains in the north caused a late harvest, according to farmers association Coldiretti. Output is estimated to fall by 5 to 10 percent.

'We fought a great battle': Greece defends wildfire response (AP) As Greece’s massive wildfires were being largely tamed Tuesday, the country’s civil protection chief defended the firefighting efforts, saying every resource was thrown into the battle against what he described as the fire service’s biggest-ever challenge. Nikos Hardalias said authorities “truly did what was humanly possible” against blazes that destroyed tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of forest and hundreds of homes, killed a volunteer firefighter and forced more than 60,000 people to flee. Two other firefighters were in intensive care with severe burns. “We handled an operationally unique situation, with 586 fires in eight days during the worst weather conditions we’ve seen in 40 years,” Hardalias told a news conference. “Never was there such a combination of adverse factors in the history of the fire service.” Greece had just experienced its worst heat wave since 1987, which left its forests tinder-dry. Other nearby nations such as Turkey and Italy also faced the same searing temperatures and quickly spreading fires.

Smoke from Siberia wildfires reaches north pole in historic first (Guardian) Smoke from raging forest fires in Siberia has reached the north pole for the first time in recorded history, as a Russian monitoring institute warned the blazes were worsening. Devastating wildfires have ripped across Siberia with increasing regularity over the past few years, which Russia’s weather officials and environmentalists have linked to climate change and an underfunded forest service. One of Siberia’s hardest-hit regions this year has been Yakutia – Russia’s largest and coldest region that sits atop permafrost – which has had record high temperatures and drought. On Saturday, the US space agency Nasa said its satellite images showed wildfire smoke travelling “more than 3,000km (1,800 miles) from Yakutia to reach the north pole”, calling it “a first in recorded history”. It added that on 6 August most of Russia was covered in smoke. According to Russia’s forestry agency, this year’s fires have ravaged more than 14m hectares, making it the second-worst fire season since the turn of the century.

Lockdowns In Manila (Guardian) The more aggressive Delta variant of COVID-19 has led to record case numbers in countries across Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam have reported record cases in recent weeks. The variant was detected in the Philippines in mid-July and has spread to 13 of 17 regions. On Friday, the national capital region of Manila, with a population of almost 14 million, was placed under strict lockdown until August 20 in an attempt to slow the spread. Only authorized people, including those buying food, traveling for medical reasons, or frontline workers are allowed to go outside. The day before the lockdown went into effect, thousands rushed to vaccination centers and waited for hours hoping to get a shot. Rumors had spread that unvaccinated people wouldn’t be allowed to claim government aid or go outside.

Taliban Capture Sixth Provincial Capital (Foreign Policy) The Taliban’s advance across Afghanistan continued on Monday with the capture of Aibak, the capital of Samangan province, marking the sixth provincial capital to fall to the group in less than a week. Monday’s seizure was hastened by the defection of Asif Azimi—a prominent warlord with ties to the now defunct Northern Alliance—a worrying sign of shifting allegiances due to a rapidly changing situation on the ground. As the fighting drags on, pressure is building on President Ashraf Ghani to get a handle on the situation or get out of the way. Reports in Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal paint a picture of an isolated leader whose best hope lies in rallying support from anti-Taliban groups ahead of an all-out civil war.

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Could a Biden Administration Help Save the Amazon Rainforest?

In place of a traditional message of congratulations, Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro met Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory with a strange and provocative message. “We saw recently a great candidate to head of state say that if I don’t put out the fires in the Amazon, he will put up commercial barriers against Brazil,” Bolsonaro said at an event a few days after the presidential race was called for Biden. “How do we deal with that? Diplomacy alone is not enough. When words fail, one has to have gunpowder.”

The apparently flippant threat– a reaction to Biden’s call during a debate in September for Brazil to face “economic consequences” for failing to combat deforestation in the Amazon rainforest – underscores what may become a major fault-line in Brazil-U.S. relations under President Biden.

Last year Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research recorded 2.4 million acres deforested in the Amazon –an almost 30% increase on 2018, the year before Bolsonaro took office, and 2020 has seen record numbers of forest fires. The president simultaneously rejects any blame for the blazes, and argues that the Amazon is a resource the country can and should make money from in order to develop its economy. His critics say that belief has led to a culture of impunity for farmers and other land grabbers who set fires to clear the trees. Attempts by leaders in Germany, Norway and France to leverage economic muscle to force Brazil to take action have been unsuccessful, eliciting little more than barbs from the president. Last year, Bolsonaro told German Chancellor Angela Merkel to “reforest Germany” rather than obsess over the Amazon.

But environmentalists hope the change of administration in the U.S. may play a role in halting deforestation in the Amazon, right when scientists say it is approaching a tipping point from which it can never recover. The loss of Bolsonaro’s hero and ally Donald Trump – who praised his administration’s handling of the Amazon–, combined with possible economic consequences for Brazil’s business community will add to international pressure and, maybe, move the needle.

Continue reading.

[thenixkat]

The Horks win au timeline

Tribe Tree free horks:

-liberate enslaved hork-bajir and other people

-set up secret encampments in multiple valleys and mountains b/c they know from history putting all yer seeds in one basket is a bad idea

-stockpile weapons, supplies, and both yeerk and human technology

-Sabotage yeerk projects

-construct a deep-space radio with the help of free taxxons to communicate with other bands of free hork-bajir out there in space as well as other yeerk fighting groups like the free taxxons on their homeworld, the desbadeen military, and nahara freedom fighters.

-arrange political marriages b/w the Earth tribe and Flower tribe to open up trade and get Earth recognized as a hork-bajir settled planet by the Hork-Bajir-Desbadeen-Nahara Separatist alliance

-Instigate further infighting between yeerk forces by assisting free taxxons in creating unauthorized yeerk pools for yeerk splinter groups such as the yeerk peace movement and nonsapient host movement

-Send Toby and a few select young horks to establish a free colony on the homeworld after the Arn visists

—Establish communications with the free homeworld colony after the Arn’s  cloning project is completed and the Arn has been assassinated by Toby

-through the combined effort of the Father Deep free colony, the Flower tribe, and a few desbadeen war ships retake the hork-bajir homeworld from yeerk control and chase off unwanted andalite presence

-Earth tribe avoids contact with the Animorphs after their failed kidnapping attempt of Toby Hamee on Father Deep and permanently abandon the Ellimist created valley to make a hologram hidden and forcefield protected valley their new primary base of operations

- Resources from Father Deep are sent to the Earth tribe along with desbadeen and nahara engineers to construct planetary defenses to combat yeerk ships and the andalite fleet b/c everyone in the allience is certain that the andalites are gonna try to fuck up the humans regardless of whether or not the yeerks have been defeated b/c the andalites have a history of being assholes

-(i havent read how the books end so will leave that for later)

-the whole of the taxxon rebelion on Earth joins forces with the Earth tribe who share their taxxons’ nutritional discoveries to end the rampant malnutrition  of taxxons outside of the living hives

—Earth tribe forces aren’t going into battle naked and unarmed. Just period. Rebel yeerk, desbadeen, human, taxxon, nahara, and hork-bajir minds put for the effort to make armor that protects the wearer from both energy-based weaponry and some sizes of guns to reduce casualties and injuries. Everyone that can wield a weapon is assigned one and trained to use it.

-After the yeerks are defeated the Earth tribe forces negotiate with human leaders for ownership of multiple national parks, and hundreds of thousands of acres of jungle and forest land worldwide. (yes, the hork-bajir are perfectly willing to share the land with the indigenous inhabitants of said land)

- Hork-Bajir and their allies liberate the taxxon homeworld, provide relief aid, and formally add taxxons into their galactic alliance

-Naharan yeerk Empire supporters and confronted by the separatist movement and knocked out of power and tried for war crimes.

-5 year period for rest and restoration projects. As well as massive population boom for the hork-bajir

-The Hork-bajir-Desbadeen-Nahara-Taxxon allience with their human and yeerk allies send a demand to the Andalites to hand over their electorate and war consul to be tried for their many many many crimes. The andalites refuse and soon after get their asses beaten concave in the resulting war

-happy ending

[forestwoodward]

⁣ [this week] On Monday @canyonwoodward and I dusted off our suit jackets, traded out our running shoes for loafers and joined our friends at @protectourwinters and @keepalaskawild to document their trip to Capitol Hill - lobbying on behalf of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ [lobbying] In addition to dozens of meetings with members of Congress, @outsidehilary and @callanthegreat testified in front of congress on behalf of the refuge and the effects that climate change and the continued extraction of fossil fuels is having on their livelihoods and communities. @protectourwinters @alaskawild and members also delivered a pair of rafts adorned in signatures and artwork from the Gwich’in tribe and allies, and a message urging congress to restore the Arctic national wildlife refuge’s protections ⁣ ⁣ ⁣ [backstory] In 1960 the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge was established as our nation’s first ecosystem-scale conservation area. Spanning 19.6 million acres, and the largest unit in our National Wildlife Refuge System, the refuge today represents one of our nations last great tracts of wild lands⁣ ⁣ ⁣ [currently] In 2017 a proposal to open the Refuge to oil and gas exploration was slipped through as a part of a tax bill. Narrowly passing on a 52-48 margin the provision opens the heart of the refuge (Area 1002 - the coastal plains) to drilling starting this summer. This is the first time any national wildlife refuge in the United States has been opened and re-designated for oil and gas development, and represents an increasingly brazen attitude toward resource extraction on publicly owned lands⁣ ⁣ ⁣ [ask] In two weeks our elected officials will vote on HB-1146 a bill that would ban oil and gas development in the refuge. To support the bill please write/call/petition your representatives, sign the petition linked in my profile, or text: DONTDRILL to 52886⁣ ⁣ ⁣ [reflections] continued in comments⁣ ⁣ ⁣ @protectourwinters @powcreativealliance @alaskawild @alpacka_raft @moonmountainman @canyonwoodward @jamesqmartin @zeppelinzeerip @lindsaymaine @stateofthebackcountry @callanthegreat @outsidehilary @lucmehl @emelex @sarahbtingey [illustration] @sarahvirginiauhl (at Alaska) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxnQk3lnWhB/?igshid=1v5ccef4nc00o

[ctbraininjurysupportservice-blog]

Conquer TBI Meal Prep Hurdles: Unleash the Power of Life Skills Training

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[oaesiir-beloved-of-heaven]

How Mowing Your Lawn will Save American Civilization

A little neglect may breed mischief ...

for want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

for want of a shoe the horse was lost;

and for want of a horse the rider was lost.

—Benjamin Franklin

Poor Richard's Almanac, preface (1758)

American habits our forefathers practiced are often the subject of ridicule today. The image of the American father has changed in modern perception; he is now fat, bumbling, politically backward, balding, an alcoholic who's chief indulgence is piss beer. The image of such a man in shorts drinking a Monster Zero riding his lawnmower at the crack of dawn is now a literal meme across the internet.

Make no mistake; such critical viewpoints are another symptom of the self-flagellating masochism which has gripped the American people for nearly a century. Optimism and zeal gave way in the modern discourse to malcontent and apathy after the first nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. From our newfound place of unquestionable superiority Americans began to ask new questions from the safety of supremacy so far removed from the struggle that put them there: have we gone too far? Have we traveled across the last frontier and made it from sea to shining sea in the name of an Empire of Liberty only to have lost ourselves along the way? Can a nation such as ours even exist - does it deserve to exist?

Self-criticism is indeed a virtue and it has been practiced in the American people since household names like Paul Revere and Patrick Henry questioned the merit of the Constitution we now know as our founding document. Later it manifested when people like Henry David Thoreau refused to pay taxes which he knew would go to support the Mexican-American War which he - wrongly - felt was an unjustified act of imperialist aggression.

It’s important to be able to have something to measure yourself against whether it be a moral standard or a friend who is the whetstone that keeps your mind sharp. But what we see now is quite different. We are not seeing critics of American policy and culture coming from a place of love and admiration but rather malice. These critics do not want to see America do better because we can be better but rather they want the Republic to fail and be replaced with something more to their liking, damn the rest of the American people.

Let’s ask ourselves not just what today’s criticisms of American habits are but where they come from. Isn’t there a difference between a friend at the bar telling you that you’ve had a bit too much to drink and an adversary among your peers who considers the mere presence of a bottle of whiskey in your home as a sign of crippling dependency?

Who really is benefiting from the collapse of American self-confidence? It’s not you or me, it’s not our allies, it’s not the free world, nor our communities, municipalities, states, and greater democracy. What Americans need now is to reclaim themselves and their virtues and not abandon them wholesale.

The unique and truly powerful aspect of America’s democracy is that its maintenance falls to all citizens and not a political class. The already quoted Benjamin Franklin was an advocate of the necessity of an educated class of voters who were politically and civically active. The goals of such virtue can be found all over the many institutions of America he helped establish like fire departments and public libraries. It does not fall to the government alone or the elite to maintain society but the active efforts of us all. Civic virtue is the heart and soul of a voluntary society.

Now that I’ve impressed all this upon you the inevitable question must be arising: what does this have to do with lawn care?

Have you ever remarked on the true difference between a cultured and uncultured lawn? Many people consider the mere act of attempting to tame the wilderness on their property a Sisyphean one to be delegated to others if it is to be done at all. But allow me to describe to you the consequences of not tending one’s lawn particularly if you are like me and live in the wilderness where nature is not far away.

In tall grass parasites and other harmful insects come to reside. Ants inevitably make their homes in the soil with the other smaller creatures nearby being a natural source of food with the tall grass providing excellent protection for their mounds. Mice, opossums, armadillos, squirrels, badgers and other small mammals will also find solitude and resources within the fields. Then come snakes looking for meals and like the ants shelter in the soil beneath the tall grass. Soon coyotes and wolves will come looking for food as well with the overgrown ground being perfect hunting ground. Trees and other thick foliage can grow making traversing the ground and assessing it difficult. Nevermind the hazard and untended tree can pose to people or their property. Not all the plants will be benign either; thorns, poison ivy, thistles and other harmful nuisances will emerge. The more wild the acre the more wildlife will come to call it home. Soon enough you’re living in the middle of a small forest that is anything but suited to your comfortable living or the pleasure of your guests and neighbors. A hole or two could appear in the ground as well and you’d never be the wiser or perhaps a bog.

It is clear now to the astute reader what merit my quote has at the beginning of this essay. A simple weekly ritual taking only a few hours of your day might prevent all of these calamities. Though many of us would rather others do it or simply not do it at all I believe it is an edifying exercise of body and mind. A well-groomed property has many possibilities. New spaces for recreation and projects, habitation for animals that might prove beneficial for food, work, or as companions. Trees, plants and crops which while not enough to take to market might prove a healthy snack while out and about or simply a conversation piece and another reason your friends and neighbors love to visit because it means succulent pears or juicy persimmons.

This is not a simple statement of my love for landscaping or a suggestion you take up the hobby; it is an allegory for how our own virtue in daily life can and will improve our democracy. Too often we shove off our duties as citizens on government functionaries and when we do this we exchange a piece of our freedom for security and hope it doesn’t backfire or such powers do not come into the hands of villains and despots.

It is easy to mock older people and past generations for their seemingly provincial passions and lifestyles. But when we do so we lose something valuable as when we discard a culture or people because we view them as savage and uncouth. I’m not suggesting we should wholesale revive the past with all its ill trappings but consider that perhaps there is something to the more grounded practices of our parents and grandparents and beyond. Think about all the things they know/knew how to do but you’re clueless on. How does that negatively impact you? How does it negatively impact your community? Let’s not get bogged down in archaic reaction and get locked into the idea of turning back the lock; that’s not what this is about. It’s about sifting through the living examples of our ancestors and harvesting gold from mud. It goes beyond simple lawncare. America is not a nation of blood and soil but almost a religion maintained by our beliefs and the practice of those beliefs. That the best person to govern a community is its constituents. How can we maintain such a free society without a morally astute, self-reliant people? We cannot. Our goal should be to mold ourselves into such people. A man who can take care of himself is a free man. Together with the product of our own labor in hand we can contribute to the common weal overall. This is the frontier mindset. The free man’s mindset. We do not sit idly by and let our world pass us by; we ride the tiger, we tame the bucking bronco.

Now the full breadth and scope of this practical analogy is revealed to you. We must reclaim the American spirit of independence and self-reliance to maintain a voluntary and democratic society. Put down the comic book and grab a newspaper. Seek out real edifying literature that informs you about the doctrines and theories of our government and practical books that can make you more handy. Go less to the auto shop and pick up a Hayne’s manual and some tools. Learn some simple homespun recipes and stop eating out whenever hunger calls. Pay more attention to your local government and find ways you can make your voice heard and exert your will in the ballot box. This is the truest way to a free society: one where we are less dependent and more independent. One where we have the power and tools to more readily help and advise our neighbors and we have the skills and resources to collaborate. It makes our modern society with all its hard-won excess and bounty a boon and not a dependence to survive.

It’s warming up outside; the sun is out more and a cold breeze is always at your back. So why not roll up your sleeves and do your part to make your community that much greener and yourself that much more free?

[profeminist]

“I am in the process of developing the first-of-its-kind LGBTQA (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer Allies) Community Centre in India, which will be located in the royal establishment of Hanumanteshwar in Gujarat state.

This 15-acre estate, situated on the banks of the holy river Narmada, was developed by my great-grandfather and the last ruler of Rajpipla princely state, Maharaja Vijay Singhji in 1927.

My great-grandfather built a beautiful palace on the royal establishment of Hanumanteshwar, similar to the architecture of the Windsor Castle. He even imported weeping willow trees from the UK, and planted them on the banks of the Narmada, giving it the appearance of Windsor Castle on the river Thames. Unfortunately, the palace was destroyed and damaged by floods from the river.

I’m in the process of restoring some portions of the palace; I’m also adding new structures to the old building. This property was gifted by my father after I came out openly as a gay person. He even laid the foundation stone by performing a ritual for the LGBTQA Community Centre renovation and extension. The priest of the centuries-old Hanuman temple in the neighbourhood was also present for the ceremony.

The thought of developing this resource centre for the LGBTQA community came to my mind after I went through discrimination myself, when I came out. My parents publicly disowned me from the royal family and disinherited me from the ancestral property. But later, they resolved the matter and I got this royal establishment as a compromise.”

Read the full letter here

HOW. AWESOME. IS. THIS?!? 

NICE WORK  MANVENDRA GOHIL!!!

[paramedicalcourses-blog]

BEST OPTIONS IN PARAMEDICAL COURSES AFTER 10+2?

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[peaceforasia]

Over 60 former UK government officials call for urgent improvements to the Afghan resettlement and refugee schemes

I am part of a group of over 60 former UK diplomatic and development officials who served the British Government in Afghanistan since 2002. We wrote to the Prime Minister in August because we were gravely concerned for the safety of former Afghan colleagues with whom we worked in the British Embassy in Kabul and the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand.

We have received hundreds of requests for help and continue to receive new ones. Despite the incredible efforts of the British Government and military to evacuate thousands of people before the US withdrawal deadline, many vulnerable families are stranded now that Kabul airport has closed to Afghans.

The UK has a moral responsibility to help our partners leave safely. Many partners and their families have received death threats because of their relationship with us. We hear reports that some have already been killed. The Taliban’s promises of amnesty are hollow. UN Envoy on Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, briefed the Security Council that the UN has received credible allegations of Taliban reprisal killings. Disturbing video and audio are circulating that evidence persecution. Some feature Taliban soldiers calling for orders to search, arrest and kill “allies of foreigners.” Other footage is genocidal. In one video of unknown date, Taliban soldiers ask for orders to “wipe Hazara from the face of the earth.” Amnesty International is documenting recent brutal Taliban massacres.

 I believe there are four major areas for action to help the most at-risk Afghans to escape and resettle.

The first is to fulfill the UK’s duty of care to former staff. The UK government created the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) in April to relocate former Afghan personnel employed by the British government in Kabul and Helmand. ARAP processing was too slow to keep pace with the Taliban’s takeover, and the eligibility criteria have been too narrow to give protection to everyone that served the UK. Vulnerable people who fall through the cracks include staff of the British Council and private sector companies, as well as international and local NGOs. They delivered significant results in areas such as demining, building Afghan institutions, promoting rights, delivering basic services, and building infrastructure at community levels. Many are also vulnerable women who worked with us as cleaners and cooks, and the guards who kept us safe every day.

 The Taliban does not distinguish between an embassy employee and a contractor. They have issued orders to kill whole families. The UK government has a duty of care to broaden the scope of ARAP to include the families of eligible Afghan staff, as well as Afghans who implemented UK-funded programmes, and who worked for UK contractors. The task is huge, and the British government should surge resources to processing these Afghan applications.

Second, countries in NATO and the region have a moral responsibility to offer protection to persecuted Afghans. The British Government has promised a generous new Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme (ACRS). The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, told Parliament that human rights defenders, journalists, high profile women, children, LGBT+ activists, ethnic and religious minorities and close government allies would be given priority. Other countries, including Canada and the USA, have made similar commitments. This is very welcome news. However, the mechanics of the UK’s scheme (and those of other countries) are still to be clarified. I am concerned that figures will be fudged, and that we will miss many of the people most in danger. The 5,000 UK places announced for 2021 must be genuinely new in addition to those people already evacuated or approved for evacuation under ARAP. The application process must also be accessible so that the most vulnerable Afghans are able to apply, and not only those with the best connections.

Third, we need a coordinated inter-departmental, international and regional response to the crisis. The clear risk is that a refugee crisis on the scale of Syria is repeated, with all the associated risks from human trafficking. In August, Boris Johnson appointed a new Minister for Afghan Resettlement in the Home Office, Victoria Atkins. She started in the Home Office and was subsequently moved to the Ministry of Justice. Her mandate is to run the UK’s Operation Warm Welcome to resettle Afghans arriving in the UK. She oversees Home Office processing of applications and coordination with local authorities. For the new role to be fully effective, the Minister needs an international and inter-departmental mandate. The Minister should work with allies, the UN, and border countries to put in place safe passage routes out of Afghanistan, and third country processing facilities for applicants to UK schemes. The Minister could be given a dedicated team from the Home Office, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Ministry of Defence to support her. Assuming the UK wants to ensure that those who need to escape can do so, the FCDO should also work with the UN and World Bank to put in place development and humanitarian programmes that support border countries absorb Afghan refugees without detriment to their own countries’ populations

Finally, international civil society needs to organise. Many thousands of former diplomatic, development and military staff and NGOs surged to help our Afghan friends to evacuate in what has been described as a “Digital Dunkirk.” We need to shift to a sustainable footing. We should formalise our efforts by folding our activities into existing or new NGOs. These NGOs should create international coordination mechanisms that promote burden-sharing across the international community. They should establish domestic coordination mechanisms that link with the pro bono legal communities who can support resettlement and refugee applications, and local NGOs and private companies that can help with the economic and social integration of new arrivals.

To know more: https://peaceforasia.org/over-60-former-uk-government-officials-call-for-urgent-improvements-to-the-afghan-resettlement-and-refugee-schemes/

[rjzimmerman]

A Canadian exploration company with no mining experience wants to create a large open pit a mere 150 feet from the Menominee riverbank. The footprint of the proposed mine and tailings dam encompasses 1,087 acres – or 1,435 football fields. Photo by Bob Wick, BLM.

Excerpt from this story from the Earth Island Journal:

The river drains into Lake Michigan’s Green Bay, just above the city named for it. The twin cities of Menominee, Michigan and Marinette, Wisconsin both draw their drinking water from the river. Aquila Resources, a Canadian exploration company with no mining experience wants to create a large open pit a mere 150 feet from the riverbank to extract gold, zinc, and other minerals from a nearby underground sulfide deposit discovered in 2001.

The area around the site of the proposed mine is a rural-urban mix. Local residents voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016. However, a common reverence for the health of the river has brought together unlikely allies, such as Guy Reiter (also known as Anahkwet), a community organizer from the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, and professional musicians Dale and Lea Jane Burie.

The location of the proposed Back Forty mine project has special significance for the Menominee Nation. The Menominee’s creation story starts where the Menominee River empties into Lake Michigan. Their people occupied the Menominee River area until the colonial government forced them to cede their original territory in Michigan via a treaty in 1836. However, the Menominee Nation never gave up its right to protect its traditional cultural resources, including ancient garden beds, village sites and burial grounds that are essential to their identity. The present-day Menominee reservation is 60 miles southwest of the proposed mine.

In early 2018, the Menominee Nation filed a lawsuit in Michigan seeking to halt the project on its ancestral lands. Among other things, the suit argued that permitting for the mine should be in federal hands, not in Michigan’s.

Later that year, the Coalition to SAVE the Menominee River filed a separate suit against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Army Corps of Engineers claiming that the agencies wrongly approved a wetlands permit for the proposed mine. The agencies had initially rescinded approval of the permit but then reversed their decision and gave Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality (now the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy or EGLE) permission to grant it.